Values-Based Investing: A Tool for Pro-Family Activists     1/21/2003
By Martha Kleder

There's a crisis in the world of American capitalism

TROUBLE WITHIN CAPITALISM
American capitalism is in crisis. The shocking downfall of business giants Enron and Global Crossing have only been eclipsed by similar ethical trouble at Tyco, Xerox and WorldCom. Accounting and ethical scandals have even hit the nonprofit sector with the bankruptcy of the Baptist Foundation of Arizona.

In each situation, CEOs and auditors are accused of cooking the company’s books by hiding costs and expenditures, claiming more income than actually received. In short, by cheating and lying.

The impact has been staggering. Not only have shareholders in these firms suffered, but as investors stay away from the market due to mistrust, all stocks are beginning to lose value.

Something is broken.

On July 9, 2002, following President George W. Bush’s speech on corporate fraud, CNN Moneyline host Lou Dobbs noted that "it’s a cultural issue, not an economic issue. Our economy works just fine."¹

Chuck Colson, in his online article Pushing the (Moral) Limits,² notes that our nation’s leading business schools long ago abandoned Christian values and absolute truth. Without those, there can be no ethics.

"I contend that absolute truth is essential for the formation of ethics," wrote Colson. "Otherwise, right and wrong are up for grabs, determined subjectively."³

Harvard Business School went so far as to disband the teaching of ethics and returned a $20 million dollar endowment given for that purpose.⁴ Colson surveyed other leading business schools and found a similar problem with business ethics.

Those that continue to provide classes in business ethics remain committed to philosophical relativism, the pure pragmatism taught everywhere else on campus. In such an environment, ethics is merely the art of staying out of trouble, not the conviction to uphold truth and do what is right.

So, upon graduation, our nation’s most promising business students—those hired by giant firms like Enron and WorldCom — have learned that there is no ultimate truth, not in the Bible, and certainly not in an annual report.

In the book The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, economist and theologian Michael Novak notes that proper functioning of America’s economic system requires the check on excesses and wrong provided by moral responsibility.

"Democratic capitalism is not a ‘free enterprise system’ alone," Novak wrote. It cannot thrive apart from the moral culture that nourishes the virtues and values on which its existence depends."⁵

COMPETING BUSINESS ‘ETHICS’
But what is meant by "business ethics" is undergoing a transformation. As the pragmatism taught in universities shows its flaws in today’s headlines, some are seeking reforms that could topple our free enterprise system.

Ever since its dawn, capitalism has battled philosophically with socialism. Failures in capitalism, such as those in recent headlines, only serve to strengthen the hand of those proposing socialist "remedies."

Since 1987 a publication titled Business Ethics: Corporate Social Responsibility Report has called for an end to outlandish compensation for CEOs, and the artificial inflation of stock prices which benefit only a handful.

Business Ethics Co-founder, Editor and Publisher Marjorie Kelly says:

My aim is to start a dialogue about the core problem of capitalism. The symptoms range from bloated CEO pay, sweatshops and speculative excess to stagnant wages, corporate welfare and environmental indifference.

All spring from a single source: the mandate to maximize returns to shareholders. In major public corporations–—where there is little reason to so favor shareholders—this mandate amounts to property bias, which is akin to racial or gender bias.⁶

So, while the mission statement of Kelly’s Business Ethics states, "The mission of Business Ethics is to promote ethical business practices, to serve that growing community of professionals striving to live and work in responsible ways, and to help create financially healthy companies in the process," her goal is socialism.

But her goal is to make companies the property of its employees, rather than those who have supplied the governance and the financing for the firm’s start-up and operation, namely the firm’s owners, directors and shareholders.

Without an effort to renew the moral culture in business, socialist policies could be seen as the only alternative.

THE CULTURE WAR
Then there is the general state of our culture to consider. Radio networks employ shock-jocks with multi-million dollar salaries, clothing companies use pornography to sell their brands to minors, record companies produce increasingly vulgar and violent music.

Everywhere, from magazines to television, values that were once dear to Americans of all religious and political stripes are being trampled. Why? Scott Fehrenbacher is the founder and former president of the Institute for American Values Investing. In his book Put Your Money Where Your Morals Are he contends this is because cultural polluters have been allowed to use our economic prosperity to drive their agenda relatively unchallenged.⁷

At the same time, the Christian community, which has long valued consumer-based action, is awakening to a new level of cultural engagement.

Letters to sponsors of objectionable broadcasts and boycotts of companies undermining American values have been a staple of pro-family activism for decades. Now, shareholder actions and resolutions are taking their place alongside the consumer activist arsenal.

While, historically, shareholder action has been available only to a few, the advent of IRAs, and self-directed corporate retirement plans has placed investment opportunities in the hands of a majority of working Americans.

SHAREHOLDER = OWNERSHIP, OWNERSHIP = POWER
Yet, there is another solution to the ethical crisis facing corporate America. To counter out-of-control CEO compensation, CNN’s Lou Dobbs told a radio interviewer, "shareholders have to take back power."⁸

Shareholders have power? Yes, while most shareholders hold only a tiny fraction of outstanding shares— with corporate board members owning a hundred times more interest than an individual investor—– individuals often hold power over public opinion.

Public opinion is a huge asset for citizen investors, since that opinion, that perception, effects share prices. Bad news about a company may drive away customers, and thus revenue. That same news often affects share prices. Good news about a company draws investors and price increases. Bad news means fewer potential investors and decreases the stock price.

While the basic value of shares is derived from a company’s assets minus its liabilities, and its potential for growth, public perception also plays a role, often accounting for the small but nerve-wracking share price fluctuations.

Liberal activists have used this weapon in their battle for social action for decades. Picketing shareholder meetings and even sponsoring shareholder resolutions, they have persuaded companies to enact anti-nuclear, anti-sweatshop, and pro-environmental policies. The tactic is now being used to promote so-called "domestic partner benefits" at reticent companies like ExxonMobil.

So, why can’t it be used by social conservatives to end corporate sponsorship of Planned Parenthood, involvement with pornography, and the production of anti-family entertainment? Well, now it is. This new, or shall we more accurately say "reborn," effort is gaining momentum under the name of "Values Based Investing" (VBI).

Fehrenbacher defines VBI as "assuming responsibility for change." He writes:

Values-based investing is not simply about protesting those investment portfolios that hold dirty companies. It is about a commitment to hold portfolios that not only represent sophisticated tools for high investment rate of return, but that also reaffirm the thousands of companies in America choosing to conduct their business in a culturally clean or neutral fashion. It is about investment in business you can believe in financially and morally. It is about seeking out business partners you can be proud of in front of your family, in front of your pastor, and in front of the Lord.⁹

VBI VICTORIES
While Evangelical Christians started focusing on ethical investing only within the last 15 years, there is already a growing list of victories from investors who engage the business world on moral issues.

TIME WARNER AND ‘COP KILLER’
In 1993, former Education Secretary and "Drug Czar" William Bennett, C. Delorous Tucker, head of the National Conference of Negro Women, and actor Charlton Heston went head to head with the executives of Time Warner over their release and profit from the rap song "Cop Killer" by the performer Ice-T.

The compact disc, a huge moneymaker for Time Warner, advocated the murder of police officers. It outraged conservatives but received delicate attention in the mainstream media because the artist was black.

In a February 1999 speech to the Harvard Law School Forum, Heston recounted the events of the Annual Shareholders Meeting in Beverly Hills, California. He said:

I owned some shares at the time, so I decided to attend. What I did there was against the advice of my family and colleagues. I asked for the floor. To a hushed room of a thousand average American stockholders, I simply read the full lyrics of "Cop Killer"—every vicious, vulgar, instructional word.

I left the room in echoing silence. When I read the lyrics to the waiting press corps, one of them said, "We can’t print that." "I know," I replied, "but Time Warner is selling it."

Two months later, Time Warner terminated Ice-T’s contract.¹⁰

CHEERIOS-FUNDED ABORTION
Another example is the 1997 case involving General Mills and its funding of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). Word that the makers of children’s breakfast cereals was donating corporate profits to the nation’s largest abortion provider spread quickly via Christian radio and conservative periodicals. The news generated sidewalk protests outside the company’s 1998 Annual Board Meeting.

Art Ally, founder of the Timothy Plan, a VBI mutual fund, wrote about his opposition to this corporate donation in the October 1997 issue of the New Republic.

But as VBI financial advisor and founder of FaithfulSteward.com Mary Naber related in Christianity Today, a single investor named Chip Kleinbrook made the most direct impact.

First, Kleinbrook voted his proxy, an annual ballot for shareholders on company matters. Secondly, as a shareholder holding more than $2,000 in company stock for over a year, he exercised the option of filing a shareholder resolution.

His resolution simply called for General Mills to end donations to PPFA. According to Nabor, "filing the shareholder resolution allowed Kleinbrook to respectfully salute the sidewalk picketers goodbye and step right into the heart of the corporation."

"After enjoying a few different flavors of Cheerios and other tasty hors d’oeuvres, he stood at the podium before the quiet and attentive board of directors, executives and managers and aired his views."

While his resolution failed to pass, it received 3 percent support, enough to be included in the ballot for the next year. Kleinbrook’s action also drew publicity to the issue. Embarrassed General Mills executives quietly changed the policy three months later and ended the Planned Parenthood donations.¹¹

INCORPORATING ETHICS IN INVESTING: A HISTORY
The incorporation of ethics and morality into American business and investment began with Christian anti-slavery efforts before our nation’s founding. New Jersey tailor John Woolman refused to sell cotton or dye supplies handled by slaves.¹²

While his early product line was severely limited, he attracted a large number of customers and gained the attention of the Philadelphia Quakers. At Woolman’s urging, in 1759, the Quakers passed the first resolution in the American Colonies not to own, deal or sell slaves. They believed it was a violation of their faith to profit from the misery of others.

As time passed and slavery gave way to the industrial revolution, Christians continued the effort, refusing to profit from alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pornography and sweatshops.

These Christians took to heart the principles set forth in Scripture, that God’s people should consider the good of others as well as themselves. They viewed Leviticus 19:9 as a directive to abandon the highest possible returns in order to provide for the poor.

That Scripture states, "When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest." (NKJV) The book of Ruth beautifully describes the principle of leaving some for the poor.

Another Scripture, Exodus 21:33& 34, reinforces that principle in another business situation, that of corporate responsibility. It states, "And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it, the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to their owner, but the dead animal shall be his." (NKJV)

Christian investment advisor Gary Moore, founder of Spiritual Investing.com and a student of investing legend Sir John Templeton gave an April address to the Mennonite Mutual Aid National Conference. He said, "Our markets would have a far higher level of trust, the lubricant of capitalism, had Enron only watched out for other people’s wealth as well as its own."¹³

But while the Biblical mandate to care for others in business and investment decisions has never changed, how those principles are applied has changed.

The early American Christian effort to apply Biblical standards to financial affairs was hijacked by many mainline denominations as well as secular liberals during the anti-war movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. This liberal activist investing strategy is called "socially responsible investing" (SRI).

In his book, Fehrenbacher notes that mutual funds and investment research companies billing themselves as "socially responsible" are far adrift from the values of today’s Christian community.

Using a two-pronged approach, avoidance of "bad" companies, already described, and investment in "good" companies, like those producing alternative energy and related products, SRI activists invested with two main goals. Quoting from the mission statement of Co-Op America, an SRI advocacy group, Fehrenbacher wrote:

First, it was to "divert capital away from destructive uses by refusing to invest in businesses or institutions which pollute, use unfair labor practices, conduct businesses in oppressive regimes, produce nuclear weapons or nuclear power, or employ other damaging practices."

Second, it was to "channel capital toward socially responsible purposes by investing in companies and institutions whose products, services and practices contribute to a sustainable society."¹⁴

VBI VS. SRI
While the bulk of SRI mutual funds are secular, several church groups have started their own SRI funds, lending an often-confusing religious cover for a politically liberal investment strategy.

Often, the church connection misleads many Christians into thinking that "socially responsible" mutual funds share their values. However, strip away the religious language, and often you find funds do not filter for issues of concern to today’s Christian community.

SRI funds will not invest in gambling, alcohol or tobacco. Yet these funds often take a pacifist stand, as with the Mennonites’ MMA Praxis Fund, which sees defense spending as sinful. Liberal SRI funds also allow investment in abortion services and products, pornography—especially that coming from the media—and companies promoting the homosexual agenda.

(Note: While the MMA Praxis family of mutual funds says it looks for companies that "respect the dignity and value" of human life, they apply that term in a way to oppose sweatshop labor and discrimination, not abortion.)¹⁵

VBI, on the other hand, uses the same activist investment strategy to conservative ends. VBI investors seek to end sponsorship of abortion by screening out investments in hospitals that perform abortions, pharmaceutical companies that manufacture abortifacients, and corporations that donate to Planned Parenthood.

VBI also eliminates companies that profit from pornography, both in its traditional form, and companies that profit from satellite and cable distribution, as many hotel chains now do.

But even within the family of VBI funds, there exists a range of screening criteria. For instance, only a handful of VBI mutual funds screen out homosexual advocacy or promotion of "non-married lifestyles." The Timothy Fund is the largest of these.

HOW DEEPLY SHOULD YOU BE INVOLVED?
The first step into the world of ethical investing is to ask, "What should be my level of involvement?" That question should be applied to two areas:

• First, your comfort level with indirect involvement. Do you wish to eliminate all connections to unholy business practices, or simply avoid direct involvement? An example would be a decision to invest in a hotel chain that may profit from pornographic pay-per-view movies.
• Second, your comfort level in investigating companies, making stock purchase decisions, and following through by voting your shareholder proxy.

DIRECT VS. INDIRECT INVOLVEMENT
It is obvious to most Christian investors that shares of gambling-equipment-maker Alliance Gaming Corporation, Playboy Enterprises and Private Media Group Inc., makers and distributors of pornography, have no place in a VBI portfolio.

But what about the less-obvious companies? Take Marriott International. Along with operating a hotel chain, Marriott has provided food service to airports and institutional cafeterias for years. But in the course of that business, Marriott profits from the pay-per-view rental of in-room pornographic movies. It also promotes nonmarried lifestyles and homosexuality among its employees.

Another, less severe example is General Electric. GE, long known for light bulbs and home appliances, has diversified into transportation, aviation and plastics, to name just a few. It also owns the NBC television network. NBC has brought the nation such programs as Fear Factor, Dog Eat Dog, and Will and Grace. Entertainment Chief Jeffrey Zucker has promised to increase the network’s level of offensiveness in the 2002-2003 season.

The decision for VBI investors is where to draw the line. Some may see holding a small percentage of a stock like GE in their portfolio as OK, given that offensive programming represents a tiny fraction of the company’s product. But those same investors may draw the line at holding any shares of Marriott, which profits from hardcore pornography and willingly promotes the homosexual agenda.

Many investors are satisfied to screen out companies that actively promote anti-family values and use their position as a shareholder to persuade less-activist companies from indirect involvement. Such is the case with Target. The family-based retailer was discovered funding Planned Parenthood. Quiet but persuasive shareholder action caused those donations to stop.

Where you decide to draw the line is a matter between you, the Lord and your financial advisor. And, just as your investment priorities have changed as you investigate the opportunities of VBI, so they may change with time and experience.

INDIVIDUAL STOCKS OR MUTUAL FUNDS?
In dealing with your personal commitment of time and effort, there are two options. If you wish to place your money somewhere "safe" and then not worry too much about it, you may want to investigate the growing number of VBI mutual funds.

The first of such funds is The Timothy Plan, introduced in 1994. Timothy Funds has grown into a family of eight funds from fixed income to aggressive growth. Christian Stewardship Funds offers a selection of four index funds. The Noah Fund offers a large-cap growth fund. Other funds include Shepherd Funds and Stewardship Partners.

With a VBI mutual fund, you are not only purchasing a diversified group of stocks that don’t violate your principles, you are also purchasing the services of like-minded fund managers who take shareholder action seriously.

VBI managers do the same things that SRI fund managers have been doing for years, only from a pro-family perspective.

What exactly is that? According to the published guidelines for shareholder advocacy for the MMA Praxis Fund, "MMA recognizes that being a shareholder means being a ‘part owner’ of a company—and that ownership brings with it certain rights and responsibilities."

"One of MMA’s most important responsibilities is to communicate with corporate management of these companies about practices and activities we believe have a negative impact on communities, individuals and the environment," the guidelines state.¹⁶

Actions include:

• Writing letters to company executives and government leaders.
• Voting proxies supporting shareholder resolutions of social concern.
• Attendance and interaction at company shareholder meetings.
• Filing shareholder resolutions.
• Direct dialogue and negotiation with companies.¹⁷

Both SRI and VBI fund managers work for the interests of their clients, not just to achieve the highest possible financial return, but to improve the culture.

While such actions rarely gain publicity, a March 22, 2002, letter from The Timothy Plan President Arthur Ally to Wal-Mart President Lee Scott was made public in an e-mail newsletter from the American Decency Association.

"Our mutual funds screen out investing in any company involved in the moral decline of our culture through their involvement in abortion, pornography or active promotion of the homosexual agenda," wrote Ally.

"We were pleased to invest in Wal-Mart stock because of your company’s reputation for being a family-friendly organization. My wife and I went to your Casselberry, Florida, store last night and were shocked when we saw the checkout lane display of Cosmopolitan magazine while we were standing there.

"A lady supervisor was helping our checkout clerk with a problem, so I called her over and asked her to read the cover of that magazine to me. Of course, she was embarrassed and suggested I write you this letter," Ally continued.

"As president of the Timothy Plan, I feel responsible for everything and anything that does on in our organization. I presume you feel the same, that is, unless you insulate yourself and have your underlings handle these kinds of issues."

Ally’s letter ended with the following challenge:

"Assuming you take your responsibility seriously, I would like to issue this challenge to you: Go into any one of your stores, publicly introduce yourself as the president of Wal-Mart, get on the speaker system and read aloud to your store’s customers all the words on the cover of any issue of Cosmopolitan. Then let me know how it goes so I can decide whether or not we have to add your company to our screen list. I look forward to your reply."¹⁸

Pretty strong words. However, while this letter is similar to those written every day by individual citizens, Ally’s wielded the bigger stick of ownership. At the time of this letter, The Timothy Plan—a relatively small fund family—held $135 million in assets, and 7,200 shares of Wal-Mart stock.

Wal-Mart’s final response to a series of letters from Ally led to The Timothy Plan selling all of its Wal-Mart shares.

"They thumbed their nose at the suggestion that magazines like Cosmopolitan and The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition should be covered when marketed in the check-out lanes," Ally told the Culture and Family Institute (CFI).

Still, Ally says actions like the one taken against Wal-Mart make sense in today’s climate of corporate greed and scandal.

"Companies fail our moral screens when they show callous disregard to the well-being of their customers and employees," Ally said. "So, we are not surprised when we see companies screened from our funds becoming mired in corruption scandals."

When selecting a VBI mutual fund or funds, remember to look beyond the fund’s name or category. The popularity of SRI investing has led many mainstream brokerage houses to create their own ethical investing funds. Such funds often sound good, but promote a liberal ethic. The same can be said for religious-based funds as well.

Check the fund’s screening policy. Select a collection of funds in line with your values, then evaluate them for risk performance and appropriateness before investing.

Even if you are locked into a limited family of funds through your employer’s retirement plan, you can still weed out those funds with the highest exposure to "sin stocks." Crosswalk.com’s Money channel offers a tool called the Investigator, which evaluates mutual funds and companies by VBI standards.

DIRECT INVESTING
If you prefer a more hands-on approach, many tools are available. Internet-based brokers allow even small investors to investigate and purchase stocks on their own.

In October 2000, Austin Pryor’s Sound Mind Investing introduced Christian investors to Foliofn, an on-line investment firm. Folio allows users to create their own "mini mutual fund," their own basket of hand-picked stocks.¹⁹

As with other on-line investment firms, Foliofn offers a large selection of balanced pre-selected folios, groups of stocks chosen based on industry, risk level or index.²⁰ It also offers investors the opportunity to build their own from scratch.²¹

But unlike most other on-line services, Foliofn is geared to ethical investors. With Folio, you can choose a pre-assembled group of stocks as a starting point, then "swap out" offensive stocks and replace them with those matching your investment ethics.²²

Foliofn also offers other advantages to small investors, such as tools to inform you about the tax implications of your buy/sell decisions, lower transaction costs, and the ability to pay account expenses by credit card rather than from fund earnings.²³

Founded by Steve Wallman, a former Securities and Exchange Commission member from the mid 1990s, Foliofn, was created as an outlet for small investors who want to test their own wings.²⁴

CHALLENGES TO EFFECTIVE VBI
Not all Christians involved in financial consulting see VBI as a practical effort. Austin Pryor says that indirect involvement is almost impossible to avoid. He notes the high level of interconnectedness in corporate America.

"I won’t buy Philip Morris stock, but I’ll buy a mutual fund that might own some Philip Morris stock," he wrote. "To me, there’s a difference between making a direct, conscious attempt to profit from the sale of tobacco products versus the indirect incidental contact I might have with Philip Morris when I’m only trying to invest in a diversified portfolio of stocks that span the spectrum of American economic life."²⁵

Adherence to strict VBI screening could cost investors in lower performance, Pryor said. While that claim is unfortunately true about the early days of VBI, a growing selection of VBI funds and do-it-yourself plans are making that less of a problem each day.

Although he takes nearly an adversarial position regarding VBI, Pryor’s newsletter contains valuable information for independent Christian investors. Neither has Pryor closed the door completely on VBI. Both the newsletter and the Sound Mind Investing Web site contain opposing viewpoint articles, many written by VBI experts like Patrick Johnson, president of the Values Investment Forum.²⁶

LOBBYING MUTUAL FUND MANAGERS
It’s long been common for activists to lobby businesses on behalf of the pro-family agenda as they would elected officials. Fehrenbacher suggests that mutual fund managers, who daily make huge buy-and-sell decisions affecting companies and are paid a commission based on the number of assets they manage, should also be influenced.

"Politicians judge success by how many constituents vote for them instead of their competitors, while mutual fund managers ultimately judge success by how many investors choose to invest in their funds instead of their competitors’ funds," Fehrenbacher wrote.

"Also, once elected, politicians must keep their constituents happy with their voting records in order to stay in office. Similarly, once mutual fund managers are at the helm, they must keep their investors happy with their investment decisions in order to keep their jobs."

However, Fehrenbacher points out that the performance of mutual fund managers has been graded only on financial return. So, many managers have no qualms about investing in strip clubs or pornography producers. But if they begin to lose clients and consequently fund assets because of such offensive stocks, then decency advocates have gained their attention.

As Fehrenbacher wrote, "I can assure you that the managers of those funds have a far greater loyalty to maintaining the asset levels of their funds than they do to the internal policies and agenda of the [offensive company]. In other words, for a money manager it is a very easy choice between losing assets of disgruntled customers or removing a stock from an investor’s portfolios that is causing the problem."²⁷

POSITIVE VBI – INVESTING IN THE GOOD
While most of this paper has dealt with where not to put your money, another key part to an ethical investment strategy is where you do invest.

The ultimate goal of ethical investing is to make a respectable but not greedy return, doing something for the good of others. Sir John Templeton gives the example of earning a return on government Ginnie Mae bonds, which promote home ownership among younger, low-income families.

Templeton defined spiritual investing as "A Theology of Humility"; in other words, loving your neighbor as yourself.

To that end, Templeton began investing in underdeveloped nations. Even while his profit was not as great as it would have been if he had kept the money in U.S. investments, his funds were used to build badly needed infrastructure in developing nations. These funds are known as "developing nations" funds.²⁸

Stateside, specialized community banks and credit unions promote urban renewal and inner-city church missions. South Shore Bank of Chicago is one example. Another is the Evangelical Christian Credit Union (ECCU), an Internet-based full-service credit union for Christians.

Focus on the Family, World Vision and soft-pretzel mogul Aunt Nelly are among its more well known depositors. ECCU’s deposits are used to provide loans to like-minded ministries and churches. Twenty-five percent of ECCU’s $250 million annually goes to inner-city missions.

VBI RESOURCES:
For those wishing more information on VBI, we suggest the following resources:

Scott Fehrenbacher has written a book on the issue of Values-Based Investing called Put Your Money Where Your Morals Are, published by Broadman &Holman. The book is a great resource for those launching into the world of ethical investing, because it includes sample letters to boards of directors and mutual fund managers.

Mary Naber has published an article in Christianity Today called "Christ’s Returns," which is still available online as this goes to press.

INVESTIGATION TOOLS
Ethical investors, especially small ones, need the resources to determine where companies and mutual funds fall on the VBI rating scale.

A good first glance resource is The Timothy Plan’s "Hall of Shame."²⁹ Another tool is Crosswalk.com’s Investigator, located on the Money channel.³⁰ Developed by VBI advocate Fehrenbacher, the Investigator is a free, online tool that rates mutual funds and companies based on their direct or indirect involvement in anti-family activities.

Christian financial advisors, or those managing large church funds, have still other options, like the Values Investment Forum, founded in 1998 by Patrick Johnson.

Dayton, Ohio-based Pro Vita Advisors offers a free online list of companies violating family values, particularly the life ethic. Founder Thomas Stohbar also helps investors file shareholder resolutions. To date, more than 70 companies, including General Mills, Target and AT&T, have stopped funding Planned Parenthood Federation of America, largely thanks to his influence.

ACTIVISM TOOLS
One Million Moms (www.onemillionmoms.com) and One Million Dads (www.onemilliondads.com) are Web sites and e-mail alerts operated by the American Family Association. Although geared mostly toward media issues, the updates frequently raise issues of concern and provide contact information for corporate leaders.

Resources are also available from the liberal Socially Responsible Investing camp.

The Investor Responsibility Resource Center (IRRC) provides information on investor proxies and shareholder resolutions to institutional investors and financial advisors. Responsible Shopper, an effort of the liberal group Working Assets, is a free layman’s resource, tracking the ethical behavior of companies. While most of the research focuses on a liberal agenda, much can be gleaned from the Web site’s investigation into "diversity" issues. Pro-family investors can simply avoid what Working Assets recommends, and invest in companies they criticize.

OTHER RESOURCES
Investors wishing more banking options, and deposit and draft accounts as well as fixed income investments, may want to investigate the Evangelical Christian Credit Union. ECCU offers a full range of banking services and is available online.

South Shore Bank of Chicago can also be found on line at http://www.sbk.com/livesite/main/.

FINANCIAL ADVICE
No discussion of values-based investing would be complete without mentioning one of the most valuable assets, a like-minded financial advisor. The National Association of Christian Financial Consultants, based in Winter Park, Florida, can be found on-line at www.nacfc.org. You can access a directory of Christian financial advisors from its Web site, or you can call toll free at 877-966-2232.

CONCLUSION
We have embarked upon this resource in hopes that more Christians will become encouraged to apply the same prayer and thoughtfulness into their daily business activities as they do their ministry donations. May all the funds the Lord allows to pass through our hands be used for His glory.

1. Dobbs, Lou interview on The Chris Core Show, WMAL-AM, Washington, DC, July 9, 2002.
2. Colson, Charles, "Pushing the (Moral) Limits," Colson’s Perspective, March 2002, www.pfm.org.
3. Ibid.
4. Colson, Charles, "Cooking the Books," Breakpoint Commentary, July 8, 2002, www.pfm.org.
5. Novak, Michael, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, (New York, New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc.,) 1982, p. 56.
6. Kelly, Marjorie, The Divine Right of Capital, http://www.divinerightofcapital.com/index.html.
7. Fehrenbacher, Scott, Put Your Money Where Your Morals Are, (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman Publishers), 2001, p. 24.
8. Dobbs, interview on The Chris Core Show.
9. Fehrenbacher, p. 64.
10. Heston, Charlton, speech at Harvard Law School Forum, February 16, 1999, http://www.law.harvard.edu/studorgs/forum/heston.html.
11. Naber, Mary, "Christ’s Returns," Christianity Today, September 3, 2001, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/011/8.78.html.
12. Sox, David, John Woolman, Quintessential Quaker,1720-1772, (Richmond, Indiana: Friends United Press), 1999. Many of Woolman’s writings against slavery can be found on-line via www.Quakerinfo.com/woolman.shtml.
13. Moore, Gary, "Feed My Sheep; Enlighten My Investors," speech given to the Mennonite Mutual Aid National Conference at South Bend, Indiana, April 26, 2002, www.mmapraxis.com/mmapraxis/news/moore_gary.pdf.
14. Fehrenbacher, pp. 91-92.
15. MMA Praxis Fund, Stewardship Investing Guidelines, http://www.mmapraxis.com/corporate/investing_guidelines.html.
16. MMA Praxis Fund, Stewardship Investing, Shareholder Advocacy, http://www.mmapraxis.com/corporate/stewardship_investing/shareholder_advocacy.html.
17. Ibid.
18. Johnson, Bill, "Will Wal-Mart Align With Clean?," American Decency Association e-mail newsletter, March 27, 2002, www.americandecency.org
19. Biller, Mark, "Building Your Own Mutual Fund," Sound Mind Investing newsletter, October 2000, Volume 11, Number 10, http://www.soundmindinvesting.com/vsection/v_newsletter/0010/level4.htm.
20. "Make Your Own Fund," Mutual Funds Magazine, April, 2001, http://www.mutual-funds.com/mfmag/stories/2001/april/fund_manager.html.
21. Foliofn, https://www.foliofn.com/wsjsp/lp/lp.fsp.
22. McNamee, Mike, "Best of Both Worlds,?" Business Week, June 12, 2000, http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_24/b3685272.htm.
23. Rowland, Mary, "Big Price Break for Small Investors," MSN Money, May 6, 2002, http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P22379.asp
24. Norton, Rob, "Bye Fidelity," eCompany, July, 2000, http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,6725,00.html.
25. Pryor, Austin, "Avoiding Direct Involvement Part 2 of 3," Sound Mind Investing, http://www.soundmindinvesting.com/vsection/v_ethics/sri_2.htm.
26. Johnson, Patrick, "How to Implement a Values-Based Investing Strategy," Sound Mind Investing, July, 2000, Volume 11, Number 7, http://www.soundmindinvesting.com/vsection/v_ethics/implementvalues.htm.
27. Fehrenbacher, pp. 117-121.
28. Moore.
29. The Timothy Plan, Hall of Shame, http://www.timothyplan.com/sites&information.htm.
30. Investigator, Money Channel, Crosswalk.com, http://www.crosswalk.com/investigator.

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